Preface:
It must be September 2009. After my tryst with civil service examination and "3 Idiot" Madhavan like confrontation with my dad ( actually I was a passive onlooker when my mom and sister confronted my dad) I began my PG preparations in June 2009. As anyone in Chennai who prepare for PG entrance would know, my abode too was Dr.MGR Medical University library. As always ever so slowly my preparations where going on in snail pace.
In September my friends with whom I was staying and preparing stared to apply for entrance exam for an Institute which I was not that familiar with ( I knew there is an institute called NIMHANS but didn't even knew what was its expansion..!!) NIMHANS. Initially I was not interested for I was too lazy to travel to various places for writing exams then. (Later I went as far as Chandigarh to write exams which altogether another story) But when all in your group is applying you get a tad anxious as to why can't you too apply. Thus reluctantly I applied for it after one our study group member and close friend Gajadeepan told that his friend by name Shankara Subbu cleared it easily by just reading the last 10 years all-India psychiatry questions alone in addition to the regular preparation, I started having a fantasy why can't too do the same. Thus I too applied for it.
Starting with AIIMS exams in November, almost one exam every fortnight followed. NIMHANS finally arrived in the last week of February, by which exhaustion has set in. Okay, one more week to go, let me put in a decent effort at reading all the last 10 years all-India pyschiatry questions, my mind would say. I enjoyed my niece's first birthday celebration too during that week. But by then I was sure that I would get a rank in all-India or TNPG exams and since my aspiration at that point was only a non-clinical seat, mind was lazy to put in that extra effort.
Reluctantly started travelling to Bangalore. During the travel all I did was munch each and every thing that was sold in the train while my friends with whom I was travelling where are engrossed in the last minute preparation. Especially when they were discussing about the various clusters of personality I paid scant attention which bit me in my back the next day. (There was indeed a question on the cluster of personality which I answered wrongly while rest of them did it correctly) I went back without even bothering to come and look at what is NIMHANS and how did it look like.
I felt the question paper was easy as I finished it in around an hour and fifteen minutes but when we came out and were discussing questions I felt it would be impossible to be the lucky 20 to get into this institute. So I went to the library as usual back in Chennai the next day (by this time going to library has become a habit) with an idea of lets continue preparation for the May AIIMS & PGI. I din't even bother to check the results that day. It was my friend Venkataramanan who saw the results and called me by around 12 noon and said I have been called for counselling the next day.
Immediately I rushed to my sister's house and opened the NIMHANS page and saw it for myself. Immediately booked tickets in all the trains that were leaving that afternoon, with none being a confirmed ticket. Had to rush back to the library to get all my certificates photostatted and to get it attested. Only the 5pm Shatabdhi express ticket confirmed and while I was travelling towards the central station I realised that I have somehow forgotten to get one more certificate attested. As soon as I landed at central I rushed to MMC casualty nearby and requested the CMO on duty for attestation which he gladly obliged.
My parents concurrently where travelling from Salem to Bangalore and we met at the Bangalore city railway station. Next day the auto driver dropped us near the OPD (wonder what was he thinking listening to us discussing about admission to NIMHANS....:P ) When we inquired with the people there where is admission is being done they directed us to the screening OPD. There we realized what they really understood by admission. A neurology resident passed by ( I presuming since he was wearing an apron ) who directed us to the campus across the road.
Initially we tried to enter the locked Neurobiology research center where another person ( I think Ritika Bhutani ) who was also lost. Finally we stumbled across a security guard who guided us to the academic section. When the counselling started slowly it began to sink in that I don't have a chance getting a seat as all the seats have been taken up and I was 3rd on the waiting list. Euphoria slowly evaporated and I returned back dejected.
During the all-India counselling I met the person who has taken the seat before me, and also the person who was wait-listed above me. The former told he has decided to continue in NIMHANS while the second one told he is also interested in the seat if the former let it go. So even the glimmer of hope I was having vanished. But I was in regular contact with Punith (who was the only person whom I met and spoke in the NIMHANS counselling ).
Meanwhile I got MD psychiatry seat in Institute of Mental Health, Chennai through all-India PG entrance exam. Slowly I was forgetting NIMHANS and getting used to IMH. In the third week of May I got a call from Punith saying that the first person and second person have left the seat and the person who was ranked just above me has not joined yet and the time period of a week given to him is about to lapse. The emotional state I was in when i heard this from Punith is difficult to describe. Without wasting much time I called up the academic section and inquired whether I can come and join. They asked me to come immediately.
Immediately I took leave for couple of days, went back and forth between IMH and MMC to get my original documents and left Chennai as fast as I could. Next day I joined NIMHANS, 20th may, 2010, the day which is as significant as my birthday, for it was a new beginning, a journey through the next 3 years which were the best years of my life...!!!
...... To be continued
